Acropora palmata in captivity

[Akwarius]

I've been reading up on this stony coral lately and am fascinated by it. I know that it is a strictly protected species, but did any fragments of it slip into the hobby before protective measures were put in place? Are there any colonies being kept in public aquariums or marine research facilities that can be seen by the public?

 

[markie mark]

I wish I new the answer to that question myself...I saw some nice colonies in key largo last year..such a beautiful coral...from what I understand,the guys that have permits for live rock down there can take whatever ends up growing on their rocks,so you would think somebody,somewhere has this coral...

 

[Akwarius]

I wish I new the answer to that question myself...I saw some nice colonies in key largo last year..such a beautiful coral...from what I understand,the guys that have permits for live rock down there can take whatever ends up growing on their rocks,so you would think somebody,somewhere has this coral...

No kidding! My understanding was that it was strictly protected and prohibited to collect. Im sure if anyone has this coral they are keeping it to themselves.

 

[markie mark]

thats just what ive read and been told by some people down there...I dont know how true it is but in one of my coral magazines from this year it tells about the coral restoration in the keys and theres some talk in it about the live rock...I guess if your lucky enough when the corals spawn for it to land on your rocks and it grows its yours....I think a piece would just pop up growing on my rock....its a true shame to me that theres all this talk about the stony corals dying off over the years and they have all these restoration sites or coral farms if you will and they want set aside one for the hobby.!!!! so if all the coral goes in the atlantic and carribbean,than people like us could possibly re-plant the ocean with these corals...so when their gone,their gone....and then to boot,in places like jamaica,they freakin blast the reefs and haul it back to shore to make gravel roads or coral roads..what a shame,not that they have to make roads cause they cant mine for stuff but that we can have some of these sticks....

 

[Akwarius]

thats just what ive read and been told by some people down there...I dont know how true it is but in one of my coral magazines from this year it tells about the coral restoration in the keys and theres some talk in it about the live rock...I guess if your lucky enough when the corals spawn for it to land on your rocks and it grows its yours....I think a piece would just pop up growing on my rock....its a true shame to me that theres all this talk about the stony corals dying off over the years and they have all these restoration sites or coral farms if you will and they want set aside one for the hobby.!!!! so if all the coral goes in the atlantic and carribbean,than people like us could possibly re-plant the ocean with these corals...so when their gone,their gone....and then to boot,in places like jamaica,they freakin blast the reefs and haul it back to shore to make gravel roads or coral roads..what a shame,not that they have to make roads cause they cant mine for stuff but that we can have some of these sticks....

I agree 100 percent. Hobbyist could be "banking" this coral just in case the worst scenario does happen. Unless, that is, palmatas arent compatible for captivity for some reason.

 

[markie mark]

their compatible for captivity,I promise.....dont ask me how i know that...

 

[Maximus]

I would love to have a frag of cevicornis or palmata someday!

 

[PR_Reefers]

I know here in PR many palmata colonies are tagged and montired! I also know that the experimental station of the University of Puerto Rico works on conservation of these species... I had the opportunity to visit one of the stations which is located on an island 100ft from the coast while doing my bachelor in biology. They have couple holding tanks which had some frags... however these were fed directly from the ocean and used natural sunlight! I have also heard of a person who tried to introduce a small 1" frag into one of his tanks but wasn't successful! I always thought they weren't compatible with the hobby... or at least not yet....Anyways what's striking about them imo is the growth pattern.... and they need to get very big to look impressive! other than that the color is not that striking so I doubt many hobbyist would be interested in acquiring it! Although... I wonder how would they color up under our artificial lighting:bigsmile:

 

[Troylee]

Here is some cool pics and info on it...
Elkhorn Coral (Acropora palmata) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries

 

[Akwarius]

i wonder what it is about this coral that isnt compatible with captivity. The color in natural sunlight looks drab, but that growth pattern is killer!

 

[Troylee]

I'm sure it is just no one gets to try it... Give that bad boy to sunny x he will make it look pretty lol....

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Here is some cool pics and info on it...
Elkhorn Coral (Acropora palmata) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries

Thanks for the link Troy - Some really interesting stuff regarding the Elkhorn...it is a beautiful coral too!

 

[xmetalfan99]

Here is some cool pics and info on it...
Elkhorn Coral (Acropora palmata) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries

That is the first time I have seen what the palmata looks like. The growth pattern is a cool mix ov monti cap and acros. This is one of the few corals that I have seen where they look like the common name they are gven.

 

[PR_Reefers]

I found a link to a very cool link to a conservation project done with palmata's in PR..... apparently they are successfully kept and raised in aquariums!!! however these people collected larvae during the spawning of these corals!!:tongue:Coool!!

quote, "During the second SECORE workshop in Puerto Rico, 2006, we achieved a major breakthrough in coral conservation research. It was the greatest effort ever undertaken to establish a captive population of the threatened Elkhorn coral Acropora palmata which was reared under laboratory conditions. As a result there are 700 Elkhorn recruits distributed among public aquaria worldwide today. The corals are used for research on coral conservation and for educational purposes."

SECORE

 

[Troylee]

That is the first time I have seen what the palmata looks like. The growth pattern is a cool mix ov monti cap and acros. This is one of the few corals that I have seen where they look like the common name they are gven.

For sure no doubt.... I don't know where chalices got there name... They should have named them uncle ben since no one let's them get bigger than a grain of rice any more... Buhahahahahahah I don't care who you are that's funny rite dere!!!!! Ahahah lol!!!

 

[nivram]

In Florida you'd be risking a lot to keep them without a permit. They are protected and are being grown for restoration efforts in the FL Keys.

 

[Akwarius]

I found a link to a very cool link to a conservation project done with palmata's in PR..... apparently they are successfully kept and raised in aquariums!!! however these people collected larvae during the spawning of these corals!!:tongue:Coool!!

quote, "During the second SECORE workshop in Puerto Rico, 2006, we achieved a major breakthrough in coral conservation research. It was the greatest effort ever undertaken to establish a captive population of the threatened Elkhorn coral Acropora palmata which was reared under laboratory conditions. As a result there are 700 Elkhorn recruits distributed among public aquaria worldwide today. The corals are used for research on coral conservation and for educational purposes."

SECORE

Some lucky scientists got in on that! Does anyone know of a public aquarium where these can be viewed?

 

[Akwarius]

Look I found a picture of a frag in captivity. Gives you an idea of what the palmata looks like up close:

Reference: http://data.aims.gov.au/coralpages/h...0pages/899.htm

 

[markie mark]

I told you they can live in captivity.....I can promise thats not the only one either....its just another acro...the cervicornis is a rapid grower in captivity,very similar to A.yongei..or green slimer.

 

[Akwarius]

I told you they can live in captivity.....I can promise thats not the only one either....its just another acro...the cervicornis is a rapid grower in captivity,very similar to A.yongei..or green slimer.

It too bad the cervicornis isnt often seen in the hobby either. I see that it is one of the three threatened species, A. cervicornis, A. prolifera, and A. palmata.